L’Equipe says the Parisians have “reached an agreement” with Monaco to sign the 18-year-old forward on loan, with an option to buy for £166m next summer. Take that, Financial Fair Play.

Liverpool set to beat Arsenal to Lemar

Outclassed, out-fought, thrashed 4-0. Liverpool’s humiliation of Arsenal yesterday could not have been more thorough if Jordan Henderson had pulled down Arsene Wenger’s trousers at the final whistle and the entire Anfield crowd had spent the next five minutes pointing and laughing at the crestfallen Frenchman’s private parts.

At least, that’s what you’d think. But, remarkably, the Reds have managed to find a way to make Wenger’s bank holiday weekend even more upsetting than it already was.

It’s simple really: they are going to sign Thomas Lemar.

The Telegraph reports that the Monaco winger, who Wenger has spent virtually every waking hour of his summer holidays trying to sign, is poised to move to Merseyside instead. The paper says Liverpool have made an enquiry to sign the 21-year-old for a club record fee of £55m, “according to sources in France”.

Still think we'll look back upon Wenger in years to come as a great, but his time has come and gone. Another 2 years will be so painful.

This news comes a week after Wenger appeared to finally admit defeat in the Gunners’ pursuit of Lemar, claiming the deal was “dead”. But his Reds counterpart Jurgen Klopp has Champions League football to offer and possibly more disposable income to play with, although the Telegraph states the move for Lemar “is not linked to the future of Philippe Coutinho”.

Equally harrowing for Wenger will be the Star’s claim that Manchester City are preparing a new bid for Alexis Sanchez comprised of £70m cash “plus Jason Denayer”. Talk about adding insult to injury.

West Ham consider axing Bilic

Slaven Bilic

In hot football manager gossip, Slaven Bilic is “on the brink” of being sacked by West Ham after starting the season with three straight defeats, says the Sun. The Croatian faces “crunch talks” with David Sullivan, but they will have to take place over the phone as the Irons chairman has gone on an “international working break” – probably roaming the beaches of the Costa del Sol looking for Alan Pardew.

Crystal Palace gaffer Frank de Boer is also in trouble, with the Guardian reporting that the Dutchman’s Selhurst Park future is “in serious doubt” after an equally poor start to the campaign that has left the Eagles hierarchy “deeply unimpressed”.

Elsewhere, Chelsea “remain hopeful” of signing Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater despite offering £15m less than the Foxes’ £40m valuation (Telegraph), dropped Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is wanted by Napoli as a replacement for former Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina (Gianluca Di Marzio) and Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi is on the verge of signing for rejuvenated Serie A giants Internazionale (ESPN). Which is just as well, because the Gunners look pretty well covered for centre-backs at the moment.